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Please turn to your Bibles, if
you would, to the book of Acts chapter 25. Acts chapter 25,
I'm going to be beginning at verse 13 and going all the way
through chapter 26. That's what we're looking at,
and you may recall last week I made mention of the fact that
It seems a variety of approaches to chapter 25 and 26 come into
play and where they divide how they preach their sermons and
how they break it up in commentaries. Well, this is the way I've chosen
to do it. Not that anybody else has done
it wrong. And in fact, even the passage that we're looking at
today, if you were to scan around commentators and look for a main
theme, you're not going to find unanimity. Different things are
brought out by different individuals. So we'll see what we can do here
together this evening. Acts chapter 25 beginning at
verse 13. This is the Word of our God. Now when some days had passed,
Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted
Festus. And as they stayed there many
days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king saying, there
was a man left prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem,
the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case
against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.
I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give
up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face
and had the opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge
laid against him. So when they came together here,
I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal
and ordered the man to be brought. When the accusers stood up, they
brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather, they had certain points
of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain
Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Being
at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether
he wanted to go to Jerusalem to be tried and there regarding
them. But when Paul had appealed to
be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him
to be held until I could send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said
to Festus, I would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, said
he, you will hear him. So on the next day, Agrippa and
Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience
hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the
city. Then, at the command of Fessus, Paul was brought in.
And Fessus said, King Agrippa and all who are present with
us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned
me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to
live any longer. But I found that he had done
nothing deserving death. And as he himself appealed to
the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. But I have
nothing definite to write to my Lord about him. Therefore,
I have brought him before you all, and especially before you,
King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have
something to write. For it seems to me unreasonable
in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against
him." So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak
for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand
and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that
it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense
today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because
you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of
the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen
to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth
spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem
is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time,
if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest
party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now
I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made
by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain
as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I
am accused by Jews, O King, why is it thought incredible by any
of you that God raises the dead? I myself was convinced that I
ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of
the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests,
but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried
to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them,
I persecuted them even to foreign cities. In this connection, I
journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the
chief priests. At midday, O King, I saw on the
way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around
me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen
to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language,
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick
against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but
rise and stand upon your feet. For I have appeared to you for
this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the
things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will
appear to you. delivering you from your people
and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, O King Agrippa, I
was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to
those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region
of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn
to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this
reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill
me. To this day, I have had the help
that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small
and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said
would come to pass, that the Christ must suffer, and that
by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light
both to our people and to the Gentiles. And as he was saying
these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice,
Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving
you out of your mind. But Paul said, I am not out of
my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational
words. For the king knows about these
things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none
of these things has escaped his knowledge. For this has not been
done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe
the prophets? I know that you believe. And
Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to
be a Christian? And Paul said, whether short
or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all those
who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these
change. these chains. Then the king rose
and the governor and Bernice and all who were sitting with
them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this
man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa
said to Thessus, this man could have been set free if he had
not appealed to Caesar. May the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his holy word. Now, interestingly enough, what
we are witnessing in this text is, in many respects, sort of
a foundation and a beginning for even our own nation's law
system. There is much credit to the Roman
system of law that is given to much of Western society and its
use its direction in terms of law, rights to citizens, and
so forth. And in many respects, that's
what we see in this text. As we've been looking, Paul has
been in prison for quite some time. Two years, as has been
mentioned earlier. Remember, he spent two years
in Caesarea with Felix, Festus' predecessor. In all that time,
Felix had the opportunity and heard the gospel from Paul. And
even as we saw last week, as Festus comes on the scene and
tries to do the Jews a favor, we see that in all of this, God
had Paul right where he wanted him. Despite the fact that you
and I would look at this and we're thinking, boy, what a waste.
Paul could have been here. He could have gone there. Just
think of how many people could have heard the gospel. Well,
the truth of the matter is the gospel went even without Paul. Paul was in prison and he was
there precisely because God wanted him there. And while we may not
fully understand all of the details, we need to submit to His wisdom.
And so it is with our own lives. Why does God have us where we
are? Well, we probably know some of
those answers. But I highly doubt you know them
all. And so we submit to God's wisdom
in all things. Well, Paul is now about to hear
or to give his defense before Agrippa. And as I mentioned,
there are a number of sub-themes that could be taking place in
this text. But one of the things, as Paul
gives his defense and he presents, once again, a story that we've
already seen him defend, and plus, we looked at the actual
events themselves, is that we see what the gospel actually
does to people in comparison to just simple
facts about the gospel. Thus, what I hope to show this
evening is simply this. Paul's defense before Agrippa
demonstrates for us the nature of true conversion versus mere
knowledge. Paul's defense before Agrippa
demonstrates for us the nature of true conversion versus mere
knowledge. We're going to look at this under
two simple headings. First of all, Agrippa comes to
Caesarea. And then secondly, Agrippa hears
Paul's defense. So first of all, Agrippa comes
to Caesarea. Look again at chapter 25, verse
13. Now when some days had passed,
Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted
Festus. And as they stayed there many
days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, there
is a man left prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem,
the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case
against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.
Well, one of the things that we need to do first is take a
step back and look at some of the history here. Not the history
of Paul, but who is this King Agrippa? Herod Agrippa. Now,
we've already seen somebody who had this title, this name, in
fact, Herod Agrippa. Do we know what happened to him?
Well, we'll come to him in a second. But this Agrippa is actually
the great-grandson of Herod the Great. Herod the Great, of course,
is the one who was reigning when Jesus was born. It was his plans
that were underway and probably, at this time, near completion,
finally, for the renovations of the temple that Jesus spoke
of. Herod the Great is the one who ordered the babies killed. His son, Herod Antipas, was the
one who was in charge and who beheaded John the Baptizer. The nephew of Herod Antipas,
who would of course be a grandson to Herod the Great, was Herod
Agrippa I. He is the one who killed the
Apostle James in Acts chapter 12. He is also the one to whom
the people said, the voice of a God, the voice of a God. And
he gave no credit, but accepted the praise of men. And the Lord
struck him down, and he was eaten by worms. This Herod Agrippa II is his
son. And he took over. But the thing
is, he did not take over right away. Because at the time of
his father's death, he was only about 17. And the Roman officials
thought, he's too young. He's not ready. So they sent
him off to this little region outside of Palestine, and then
eventually brought him back. Well, that's Herod Agrippa II. He comes in with his sister,
Bernice. Now, Bernice is an individual
who's throughout history known as somebody who had questionable
morals. Her morals were less than stellar. You would not want to use her
as an example of clean living. In fact, at this time, there
were numerous rumors about the relationship of Herod Agrippa
II and Bernice. Bernice, later on, not too long
after this, would become the mistress of General Titus, who
would later become emperor. But General Titus was the one
who was in charge and who sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple
in 70 AD. So this is who is the audience
here. We have Festus. for all practical
purposes, a Roman hack, Herod Agrippa II, and his sister, Bernice,
which, by the way, Felix's wife, Drusilla, was also a sister of
Bernice and Herod Agrippa II. What a tangled web we weave. Why people would want to watch
soap operas when the Bible has some interesting stories is beyond
me. But this is Paul's audience.
Festus, Herod, Agrippa II, and his sister, Bernice, plus others,
as we'll see. Well, Festus brings Paul's case
before Agrippa. Luke provides, interestingly
enough, a relatively lengthy description and retelling of
Festus' story before Agrippa. And as one reads through Festus'
report to Agrippa, it's pretty straightforward. He doesn't really
gloss over anything. He recounts that Paul was left
by Felix. The Jews had laid their case
before him, tried to get him to Jerusalem. He recounts how
they came up to Caesarea to lay their case before Festus. Festus
admits to Agrippa that there's no charges of which he had supposed
might be brought against him. Now, of course, we have no idea
what Festus might have thought those charges were that he was
expecting to hear. But he realizes, Festus realizes,
it was some dispute over their religion, over some guy named
Jesus, who Paul claims was actually still alive. Now, he had offered Paul to go
to Jerusalem, but Paul declined. Not only did he decline, he appealed
to Caesar. And as Festus told him, as we
saw last week, to Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you
shall go. A pretty straightforward. Now the
rest of chapter 25 we see formalities. The next day Agrippa comes because
as Festus said, hey you're going to get to hear him tomorrow.
Agrippa was interested. You're going to get him, get
to hear him. And so Agrippa comes with Bernice,
and as the description here is given, with great pomp, they
enter the audience hall, this is verse 23, with the military
tribunes and prominent men of the city. So there's an audience,
a large audience, a significant audience. Now, if we take a moment
and think about one of the reasons why Luke may be retelling this,
why Luke may be giving such a detailed description of what Festus said
to Agrippa, there's really one simple conclusion. In many respects,
what Luke is doing is presenting evidence for Paul, evidence that
all the things that are being said, Festus heard it. Agrippa heard it. These military
folks, these tribunals, they all heard it. And so this becomes,
as sort of an extra issue, a defense of Paul's ministry, a defense
that Paul has not done anything against the law, against the
law of the Romans, or against anyone. He is simply being a
minister. There's nothing else to it. Now as the show begins, no better
way to describe it, really, Festus recounts again in a more
formal setting about Paul. that he deserved nothing requiring
or deserving death. Now, isn't it interesting? Here
we are in an official capacity. That is just a show, true, but
it is official nonetheless. And Festus is saying publicly
for everyone, this man doesn't even deserve death. It almost forces us to beg the
question, why are we here? And I think that's really Luke's
point. There's no reason we should even
be here. And Festus knows it. In part, Luke is writing a defense
for Paul. This becomes, as it were in writing,
the testimony which Festus and Agrippa both can concur. When eventually Paul gets to
Rome, somehow, someway, the information that Luke has here will get into
the hands of the emperor. And as Paul's case is laid before
the emperor, there's no question witnesses will have to be called.
There are numerous witnesses. That's what Luke's point is here. That's Paul's point. Everybody
knows it. This is not an issue that we
should be dealing with. And you may sit there and you
may ask yourself, well, The Romans were concerned about justice
to a degree, especially for its own citizens. Why did they keep
this going? Well, I wish I had a simple answer
for you. I really don't. But the reality is Christians
around the world and sometimes Christians even in our own culture
face the backlash of the courts for no good reason. It simply
shows that at the end of the day, the world hates Christ and
his disciples. There may be times in your life
that because of your Christianity, your stand for the faith, that
you were treated unfairly. Maybe not arrested, but just
simply treated unfairly. And you will say, where's the
justice? We simply want to do what's right. We're just Christians.
We're just sharing the good news of Jesus. We're not disrupting
anything. When that unfair treatment comes,
how will you react? Will you continue to stand firm
as Paul did? or will you react in such a way
that really diminishes your testimony of the gospel? And then it says
to the world, hey, I'm really no different than anybody else
in this world. Stand firm, friends, when people
treat you unfairly simply because you're a Christian. This testimony is which so many,
in Paul's case, can concur. In other words, in your life,
as you were treated unfairly, your life needs to reflect such
a demeanor that the world around you can actually concur with
what you're trying to say, that you're not doing anything wrong.
How often do Christians shoot themselves in the foot? How often
do Christians want to have their own Martin Luther moment? I don't think Martin Luther was
looking to have a Martin Luther moment. It turned into that. But how many Christians will
put on the robe of martyrdom for their own namesake rather
than for the name of Christ? The question is, would other
people be able to testify of your goodwill, even if they disagree
with you? That's what we're seeing here
in this text so far. Well, having looked at Agrippa
coming to Caesarea, let's move on to Agrippa hearing Paul's
defense. Look at chapter 26, verse 1. So Agrippa said to Paul, you
have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched
out his hand and made his defense. Paul begins to speak. Notice that as he begins to speak,
he gives a lot of formalities of privilege, that it's my privilege
to stand here today before you and offer my defense. Proper greetings. There's no
sarcasm here. So one of the things that you
ought to take from this is those in positions of authority deserve
your respect. Regardless of what you may think
of our government officials, they are appointed by God and,
as such, deserve your respect. Now, in many respects, a lot
of Christians find the current president easier to show respect
to because after all, he meshes better with my values. But the previous administration,
not so much. When you hear statements such
as, well, he's not my president. Yes, he is. You may not like
his policies, but he's your president. And you pay him the honor that
he is due because God has placed him there. Paul does this. He shows us Romans
13 in action. He also knows, and this is helpful
for Paul, especially as you see in verse three, as he says, because
you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of
the Jews, therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. Agrippa
knows Judaism. Now, obviously Agrippa does not
practice Judaism, especially if the rumors about he and Bernice
are true. But he knows it. And Paul uses
this. Paul begins with his history,
some generalities with respect to his early life as a Jew, lived
as a Jew, became a Pharisee. His manner of life was well known. And Paul even says, the Jews
can testify to these things. They know my manner of life.
They know what I was like beforehand. He became a Pharisee of Pharisees,
a zealous one at that. And he gives in that opening
a general statement of his hope on God's promises and his hope
of the resurrection, which any Pharisee also would have stated.
But he builds on that. In fact, he goes on to say in
verse nine and following that he was so zealous he persecuted
this way. He persecuted those who were
under the name of Jesus. He opposed the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. It's what he once was. It's what
he once did. But then, of course, we come
to the part that we are all so familiar with. Paul's conversion. Paul's on the way to Damascus
and he relays his meeting of Christ. Now when we say Paul
is knocked off his horse, that can only be metaphorical because
the text and every retelling of the account does not say Paul
was on a horse. So be aware of that. But he is
knocked down. It's midday, and that's significant,
because midday, the sun would be the brightest. But what he
sees is brighter by far. He sees Christ. He comes face
to face with Christ. And of course, as a result, we
know he's blinded. He gives the details of this,
being knocked down. He retells the words of Christ,
particularly focused on his commission. what Jesus commissions Paul to
do. Now, Paul uses the words here,
and Luke recounts them, Christ appeared and appointed Paul. The word that is used here in
this connection, appoint, the significance of it, it has the
sense behind it, not just simply, I pick you, but that the pick
was made beforehand. Paul was ordained by God beforehand. That's why Christ at that moment
appoints him. I highly doubt that Festus and
Agrippa and those listening would have missed that point. Though
certainly they would not have believed it. Then as Paul continues his story,
his retelling, especially in verse 16, after being told that he's been
appointed about midway through to appoint you as a servant and
witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those
which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from
the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that
they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
to God. Much of the language that is
used here by Paul is reminiscent. It is similar to what is found
in Jeremiah chapter 1. It is also similar to what David
says in Psalm 106. Paul is making use of Scripture
because he knows that Agrippa is at least familiar with it.
He's alluding to it. He's alluding to the fact that
what is being described here is prophesied by God from of
old. This is an example for you and
for me as we bring the gospel to know your audience. Paul takes advantage of Agrippa
and his knowledge of Judaism. What is the purpose of this commission
though? Well verse 18 tells us to open
their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in
me. That's Paul's retelling of what
Christ told him. Some of this language also comes
from Isaiah 42 verse 7. The purpose of the Gospel is
to transform. You see, the Gospel is not just
true news. It is good news. It does something. It did something
to Paul. And that's Paul's point. The
gospel transformed him. It transforms all of us. It transformed
Paul from a persecutor of Christ and his church to a promoter
and builder of Christ's church. It transformed him as one who
was probably loved by the Jews to one who was hated by the Jews. What could account for that other
than the transforming power of the Gospel? And so, taking a
step back, you and I need to ask ourselves, has the Gospel
transformed us? Is there something in your life
that people see that is truly different? For those of you that later in
life became Christians, did people see the markage transformation
that the gospel had in your life? The gospel transforms, and evidence
of that is a complete turnaround. Complete repentance, turning
from Satan, from darkness, to light, to God. That's what the
gospel does. That's what true conversion looks
like. It is beyond just facts. Paul is not merely saying these
things are true. Yes, he's doing that. but he's giving proof of his
own life and what it does. And he's doing this before all
these people. Paul sums up them. This is why
it is the Jews are seeking to kill him. He summarizes his message simply
this way, that this is just what the Old Testament said about
Christ. There's nothing new here. And that's how he's appealing
to Agrippa's knowledge. Now, notice Festus' response. And this is the response that
some will get. Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving
you out of your mind. The truth of the matter is, there
are those in the world that think Christians are crazy. They do. And there will be times you will
share your faith, you will describe what Christ has done for your
life, and they will say, you're nuts. I can't see God. Forgetting that there's lots
of things that they can't see that they believe in. But there will be those in the
world that will think you're crazy. They are blinded to the truth.
And that's what happens here with Festus. Of course, Paul says, no, there's
no way I'm out of my mind here. I'm in my right mind. I am speaking
true and rational words. That aspect that we need to remember
is that as we share our testimony, share the gospel, what we need
to share is that which is true and rational. The gospel is not
irrational. What the gospel has done to you
is not irrational. Faith is not opposed to rationality. It is not irrational to believe
and to trust. I mean, after all, anybody who
drives a car puts faith in their brakes. And how do you know you
put faith in your brakes? Because you use them, trusting
that they will work. There's nothing irrational about
that. There's nothing that says, from a logical perspective, that
the brakes are going to work the next time. You trust that
they will. But we do so not irrationally. So it is with Christ. There's
nothing irrational with trusting in Christ. There's nothing irrational
with the realities of the gospel and the transforming power of
the gospel. You and I could think of individuals
that the gospel transformed so dramatically that there could
be no possible explanation other than the reality of Christ. That's Paul's testimony. What
else could describe or what else could explain this radical, radical
transformation in his life from persecutor to preacher? But isn't it interesting that
after saying, Paul telling Festus that he's in his right mind,
he points back to the king. The king Agrippa, he does not
say that Paul is out of his mind. Do you notice that? You see, what Paul said was true.
Agrippa does know what's going on. He understands what Paul
is saying and he understands it well, but he doesn't believe. Now, I understand that the text
here, as Paul says a little bit further down, In verse 27, King Agrippa, do
you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. The
point Paul is making is not he believes savingly. He believes
that he knows what is being said is true. He assents to his knowledge
of what the Jewish religion says. He acknowledges that what Paul
says matches up. That's the difference between
mere assent and saving faith. When we speak of faith, we usually
describe it as having three characteristics, as it were. There are what's
known as the cognitive knowledge. We know what it says. Then there's the assent to it.
We know that it's true. But then ultimately, is there
trust? That's the key ingredient to
saving faith. Trust. As we know, Satan assents to
the truth of the gospel. He knows it's true, but he doesn't
trust. This is what James's point is.
You say you have faith without works. You say you have faith.
Well, good, the demons believe. And they shudder at his name.
They have mere assent. Agrippa had mere assent. And
my friends, the hard reality is there are those that we will
come across that know the truth of the gospel, but will not put
their trust in Christ. That's a hard one to swallow.
And the sad reality is some of those individuals can quote Bible
verses better than we can. Some of them have even gone to
seminary. This is the difference between
true conversion and mere knowledge. Do not think for a moment that
because you know John 3.16 that that automatically makes you
a Christian. Do you trust and put your faith
in the Christ of John 3.16? That is the instrument by which
you are saved, not knowledge. Yes, knowledge is involved, but
it is trust in Christ that saves, that transforms. You see, the gospel is not mere
knowledge. It's not about facts. What it is, it's about turning
from darkness to light. It's turning from the power of
Satan to the power of God. It is what gives forgiveness. Knowledge does not bring you
forgiveness. Now, having said that, this is
not in any way to be taken as me telling you that, hey, don't
bother studying, just believe. If you have opportunity to study
the rich doctrines found in God's word, take it. Don't miss it. Skip the movie, read a good book,
read a Puritan, et cetera. I get it. I also recognize we
don't all have all the time in the world to do such things. But don't just simply fill your
head. Let the gospel transform your
life. That's what needs to take place. Well, Agrippa really doesn't
say much, except in verse 28, the ESV has it as a question.
Some translations have it as a statement. The Greek is not
all that clear as to which way we should take it, but the sense
is the same either way. You would have me in such a short
time be persuaded to be a Christian. There's a, there's a hint almost
of sarcasm here, but Paul essentially agrees.
Yes, I would. Not just you, but everyone, that
you would all be like me, transformed by the power of the gospel, except
without these chains. Festus may be ignorant. Agrippa
is not. But the fact that Agrippa is
not ignorant does not save him. Well, despite all of this, despite
the ignorance on Festus' part, and even the head knowledge of
some of the things that Paul speaks of, and the fact that
these two men are clearly not saved, they both acknowledge
the truth about Paul. He's not guilty of anything. As they leave, they're saying
to one another, this man has done nothing to deserve death
or imprisonment. It's not even that he hasn't
committed a capital crime. He doesn't even need to be in
prison. But hey, he appealed to Caesar. The sad thing is that Festus
and Agrippa had the authority to just let him go. But they
didn't. It shows that as leaders, they
are unwilling to make the tough decisions. They succumbed to
the pressure of how they would look before the Jews. And so
they looked for an excuse. And Paul, whether he should have
or not, is immaterial. He gave them the opportunity
to pass the buck along. And they did. It goes back to that question
of fairness again. My friends, I hate to tell you
this, the world will not treat you fairly all the time. We already
know of Christians that don't treat us fairly all the time. So it shouldn't shock us when
the world treats us unfairly. It won't happen all the time,
but it shouldn't shock us. It will. The question is, will
your life continue to reflect a life of the transforming power
of the gospel in such circumstances as it did for the Apostle Paul?
Will your life testify to the transforming power of the gospel
to the world around you that knows it's treating you unfairly? That's the thought that we should
take from this text. or at least one of them. The
other reality is, as I mentioned, Luke is presenting Paul's defense,
but it's not really just the defense of Paul. It's a defense
of the whole church. Christianity is legitimate. There's
no reason for the world to hate Christianity. There just simply
is not. It is a defense of what we believe
about the gospel. We need to proclaim that defense.
We need to share that defense. We need to share Christ. Let the gospel continue to transform
your lives. You who put your faith in him,
continue to pray that the spirit would effectually apply his word
to your life. that the world would see that
your life is a living gospel testimony. That's what happened with Paul.
And so, hearkening back to what we discussed last week, do you
not see that the Lord had Paul exactly where the Lord wanted
him? To testify to the truth by his own life, not just his
words, but his life. of the transforming power of
Christ's gospel, the power to save sinners like you and me. May the Lord give us that strength,
that courage, that faith, and the power of the gospel to transform
lives. Let's pray.
Paul Before Agrippa
Series Acts
| Sermon ID | 127191256165776 |
| Duration | 50:24 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Acts 25:13 |
| Language | English |
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